2,338 research outputs found
AN EVALUATION OF RESEARCH NEEDS FOR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS
Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
Use of cumulative mortality data in patients with acute myocardial infarction for early detection of variation in clinical practice: observational study
OBJECTIVES: Use of cumulative mortality adjusted for
case mix in patients with acute myocardial infarction
for early detection of variation in clinical practice.
DESIGN: Observational study.
SETTING: 20 hospitals across the former Yorkshire
region.
PARTICIPANTS: All 2153 consecutive patients with
confirmed acute myocardial infarction identified
during three months.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Variable lifeadjusted
displays showing cumulative differences between
observed and expected mortality of patients; expected
mortality calculated from risk model based on
admission characteristics of age, heart rate, and
systolic blood pressure.
RESULTS: The performance of two individual hospitals
over three months was examined as an example. One,
the smallest district hospital in the region, had a series
of 30 consecutive patients but had five more deaths
than predicted. The variable lifeadjusted display
showed minimal variation from that predicted for the
first 15 patients followed by a run of unexpectedly
high mortality. The second example was the main
tertiary referral centre for the region, which admitted
188 consecutive patients. The display showed a period
of apparently poor performance followed by
substantial improvement, where the plot rose steadily
from a cumulative net lives saved of - 4 to 7. These
variations in patient outcome are unlikely to have
been revealed during conventional audit practice.
CONCLUSIONS: Variable lifeadjusted display has been
integrated into surgical care as a graphical display of
riskadjusted survival for individual surgeons or centres.
In combination with a simple risk model, it may have a
role in monitoring performance and outcome in
patients with acute myocardial infarction
Improved Bounds on the Phase Transition for the Hard-Core Model in 2-Dimensions
For the hard-core lattice gas model defined on independent sets weighted by
an activity , we study the critical activity
for the uniqueness/non-uniqueness threshold on the 2-dimensional integer
lattice . The conjectured value of the critical activity is
approximately . Until recently, the best lower bound followed from
algorithmic results of Weitz (2006). Weitz presented an FPTAS for approximating
the partition function for graphs of constant maximum degree when
where is the
infinite, regular tree of degree . His result established a certain
decay of correlations property called strong spatial mixing (SSM) on
by proving that SSM holds on its self-avoiding walk tree
where and is an ordering on the neighbors of vertex . As
a consequence he obtained that . Restrepo et al. (2011) improved Weitz's approach for
the particular case of and obtained that
. In this paper, we establish an upper bound for
this approach, by showing that, for all , SSM does not hold on
when . We also present a
refinement of the approach of Restrepo et al. which improves the lower bound to
.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure. Polished proofs and examples compared to earlier
versio
Simulations of neutron background in a time projection chamber relevant to dark matter searches
Presented here are results of simulations of neutron background performed for
a time projection chamber acting as a particle dark matter detector in an
underground laboratory. The investigated background includes neutrons from rock
and detector components, generated via spontaneous fission and (alpha, n)
reactions, as well as those due to cosmic-ray muons. Neutrons were propagated
to the sensitive volume of the detector and the nuclear recoil spectra were
calculated. Methods of neutron background suppression were also examined and
limitations to the sensitivity of a gaseous dark matter detector are discussed.
Results indicate that neutrons should not limit sensitivity to WIMP-nucleon
interactions down to a level of (1 - 3) x 10^{-8} pb in a 10 kg detector.Comment: 27 pages (total, including 3 tables and 11 figures). Accepted for
publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research - Section
Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches
Simulations of the neutron background for future large-scale particle dark
matter detectors are presented. Neutrons were generated in rock and detector
elements via spontaneous fission and (alpha,n) reactions, and by cosmic-ray
muons. The simulation techniques and results are discussed in the context of
the expected sensitivity of a generic liquid xenon dark matter detector.
Methods of neutron background suppression are investigated. A sensitivity of
pb to WIMP-nucleon interactions can be achieved by a
tonne-scale detector.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in
Astroparticle Physic
Neutral Plasma Oscillations at Zero Temperature
We use cold plasma theory to calculate the response of an ultracold neutral
plasma to an applied rf field. The free oscillation of the system has a
continuous spectrum and an associated damped quasimode. We show that this
quasimode dominates the driven response. We use this model to simulate plasma
oscillations in an expanding ultracold neutral plasma, providing insights into
the assumptions used to interpret experimental data [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 318
(2000)].Comment: 4.3 pages, including 3 figure
Projections of multi-morbidity in the older population in England to 2035: estimates from the Population Ageing and Care Simulation (PACSim) model
Background
models projecting future disease burden have focussed on one or two diseases. Little is known on how risk factors of younger cohorts will play out in the future burden of multi-morbidity (two or more concurrent long-term conditions).This work forms part of the MODEM project (A comprehensive approach to MODelling outcome and costs impacts
of interventions for DEMentia), funded by the UK
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (Grant
number ES/L001896/1). C.J.’s salary was funded by the
AXA Research Fund from 2010 to 2015. C.J. and A.K. also
received funding for travel from the Australian Research
Council funded Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing
Research (CEPAR) project (2014–2017) on which C.J. was
an international partner
- …